The purpose of this blog is two fold: 1) to accurately describe how one may receive the free gift of eternal life--Jesus Himself said in John 6:47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life." NKJV and 2) to explore the Word of God in such a way that it will be supplementally edifying to what you're learning from your local church as well as contribute to the spiritual growth of believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Weekly Bible Study – March 21, 2016

The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God manifested in the Life of Jesus Christ,
The Psalm of the Crucifixion, Psa 22.

PLEASE READ FIRST

Scripture References, Word & Phrase descriptions: If available on the website you're viewing this on, a few links (i.e., those without an already written scripture quote or brief explanation) are hover pop-up active, meaning the scripture reference will just pop-up if you hover your cursor over it (don’t click on the link, just hover your cursor over it), they work best using the Firefox browser – pop-ups in Internet Explorer, Chrome & other browsers only appear for a few seconds at best. If you don’t have Firefox (or hover pop-ups aren’t available on the website you’re viewing this on), that’s OK, move your cursor off and on the link until it is read; or left click the link which will open the verse at the online bible; or you can always use your Bible to look up the verses.

Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life:

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible ChurchRobert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings

BEGIN BIBLE STUDYUnless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible

The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God manifested in the Life of Jesus Christ,
The Psalm of the Crucifixion, Psa 22.

The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God manifested in the Life of Jesus Christ, The Psalm of the Crucifixion, Psa 22.

One of the main principles that we had the privilege of studying concerning our main passage Joh 13 was the phrase the in JOH 13:1 which says having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

And the greatest expressions of this love was the cross, where He would suffer physically, but even more than that, suffer a spiritual death which means to be separated from God the Father for the sins of the entire world. And I remember making this statement:

When was the last time that you really ever contemplated just how truly, physically painful it must have been for Him to be whipped, crowned with thorns, bear the cross, and have iron spikes driven into His hands and feet?

And not only His physical sufferings, He also underwent great emotional stress in the garden of Gethsemane the night before His death from being abandoned by friends, and the thought of His humiliation and the cruel death by crucifixion.

This form of suffering was so great that we are told blood came through the pours of His flesh as beads of sweat.

But to top it off, even more than all of that, worst of all, He was about to be forsaken by God the Father for the first time ever. This type of suffering words cannot even express because none of us could ever identify with the suffering that took place when; 2CO 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

And He was on the cross, not as a sinner dying for us in our place, but He was on the cross as a "sin offering" or an offering for sin.

And just like the innocent lamb was sacrificed in the Old Testament and had no idea what was happening to it, our Lord Jesus Christ had no idea what He was about to suffer as an offering for sin.

And, it was so painful and shocking for Him in His humanity, that He kept on crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?," MAT 27:46.

What was going through His mind?

What was He thinking?

Because, you see, God did not die for us or in our place, only Jesus, in His humanity died, not God.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking......"I thought you taught us that Jesus Christ is God?"

He is, always was, and now is, and also will be. We know that because of the following passages; GEN 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Who created the heavens and the earth?

God!

In COL 1:16-17, For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

He said Himself in JOH 5:23, in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

He also said in REV 1:8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Then in REV 1:17-18, And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades."

He also said in JOH 10:30, "I and the Father are one and the same." Now, Jesus Christ is God but you cannot kill God. However, as the apostle John wrote in JOH 1:14, the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And as the prophet Isaiah said the humanity of Christ was born as taught in ISA 7:14, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."
This was fulfilled in MAT 1:20-23.

And so it's appropriate for us, when we celebrate the Lord's Supper to focus in not what those who observed the cross thought, but instead what our Lord thought when He was on the Cross. We are taught and commanded to "keep on eating the bread and keep on drinking that cup in remembrance of Him." And this ritual, which is the only ritual we are commanded to celebrate in the dispensation of the Church-age, is so important and precious in the eyes of the entire Trinity, that if believers do not obey this command that in 1CO 11:30, For this reason many among you are weak [MAS] and sick, and a number sleep or have died physically before.

The Psalm of the Crucifixion is Psa 22.

It tells about the suffering and death of Christ 1,000 years before He actually gave his life upon the cross.

And this Psalm ends with the phrase "kiy asah" in verse 31, translated He has performed {it.} meaning "It is finished." This Psalm is a photograph of our Lord's darkest hours and a record of His dying words.

Here David takes us deep into the horrors of the cross while at the same time we are made to see the fruits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His passion.

Even though the Psalm was the expression of a personal anguish on the part of David, cry¬ing out and saying, PSA 22:1, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?

This in no way invalidates the claim that this was to be a prophecy of the TLJC upon the Cross.

There is no more accurate expression of our Lord's thoughts and feelings during the awful six hours on the cross in all of the Scriptures than what we have in Psalm 22.

This of course was quoted by our Lord in MAT 27:46. It was a phrase that caused the Jews to mock but the elect angels to rejoice.

PSA 22:22 states the unanswered prayer of our Lord on the Cross, "O my God, I cry out by day [this refers to the first three hours on the cross from 9AM to 12 noon] and then by night or the night season there is no silence for Me."

This was the continued prayer of our Lord during the darkness that surrounded the cross from 12 noon 3 PM, when He was being judged for our sins.

PSA 22:3 tells the reason why that prayer could not be answered in one phrase, "You are Holy. You who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel."
God the Father was imputing our sins to Christ and judging them from His Justice and His Holiness. Therefore, He couldn't answer the prayer for deliverance on the Cross.

In PSA 22:4-5, Jesus even pointed out to the Father that He had previously delivered Israel under severe conditions. "Our fathers trusted in You [faith rest] ; they trusted, and You delivered them [You answered their prayers]. They cried out to You in prayer and were delivered; they trusted You and were not disappointed."

Out of all the Jewish difficulties and miseries, their faith brought them out of it by calling God to the rescue but in the case of our Lord, His perfect faith brought no assistance from Heaven.

Of all the ones who ever trusted in God throughout their lifetime, He would be the only one forsaken by God. And of course we will never be, HEB 13:5, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,"

So why couldn't our Lord's Prayer be answered?

The reason is given in PSA 22:6, "But I am a worm."

Usually in the Bible, the Hebrew word for a worm is "rimmah", which means a maggot but the Hebrew word Jesus used here for worm, is TOLAH, which means a crimson worm or scarlet worm. Both scarlet and crimson are the colors of blood - deep red. The interesting thing about this TOLAH worm is that when it was time for the female crimson worm to have babies (which she does only one time in her life), she finds the trunk of a tree. And She is so strongly and permanently stuck to the wood that the shell can never be removed without tearing her body completely apart and killing her.

When the baby worms hatch, they stay under the shell. Not only does the mother's body give protection for her babies, but it also provides them with food - the babies feed on the body of the mother. I think you can see the spiritual analogy, the Lord Jesus Christ protects us and provides the spiritual food that we need, which of course refers to Bible doctrine.

JOH 6:50-51, "This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh."

After just a few days, when the young worms grow to the point that they are able to take care of themselves, and the mother dies. As the mother Crimson worm dies, she oozes a crimson or scarlet red dye which not only stains the wood she is attached to, but also her young children. They are colored scarlet red for the rest of their lives.

We have the scarlet red of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ covering us for all of eternity.

MAT 26:28 our Lord said, this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Then after three days, the dead mother Crimson worm's body loses its crimson color and turns into a white wax which falls to the ground like snow.

So what did Jesus mean by saying "I am a worm"?

There are a lot of ideas what Jesus might have meant, but nobody really knows for sure. However, it is very interesting that, just like the Crimson worm, the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed His life on a tree so that his children might be washed with his crimson blood and their sins cleaned white as snow.

As ISA 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool."

He was being crushed for our sins, so that you and I, as members of the royal family of God, could wear the crimson robe of the royal family forever.

Our Lord felt Himself to be comparable to a helpless, powerless, down-trodden worm, passive while crushed and unnoticed and despised by those who walk upon Him. PSA 22:6, But I am a worm, and not a man,

"And I am not a man" means "I no longer even appear human." >

ISA 52:14, Just as many were astonished at you, {My people,} So His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.

And then He says I am a reproach of men, and despised by the people. The very people who wanted to crown Him have now condemned Him. The very ones who benefited from His cures now despised Him, how quickly people forget.

PSA 22:7, All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, {saying,}

These were gestures of contempt and hatred. Man-made faces at Him while the angel’s veil their faces and adore Him. This was fulfilled in MAT 27:39-40.

MAT 27:39-40, And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads,and saying, "You who {are going to} destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the Cross."

Priest and people, Jews and Gentiles, soldiers and civilians, all united together to hurl abuse at Him, mock Him while He was dying for those very sins.

How can we ever complain of mockery and ridicule after this?

PSA 22:8, "Commit {yourself} to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in Him."

Our Lord's Prayer was heard by all who were there, and they saw that it couldn't be answered.

But they didn't understand the reason—because He was bearing their sins and our sins in His own body on the Cross. This was the only prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ that could not be answered because it was the way of our so great salvation, HEB 2:3.

He was being judged for our sins; He was our substitute; He was taking our place.

PSA 22:8 was fulfilled in MAT 27:41-43, In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking {Him,} and saying, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we shall believe in Him. He trusts in God; let Him deliver {Him} now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

If you ever become tormented by others and mocked and judged and ridiculed, let us remember what our Lord went through.

HEB 12:3, For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

Back in PSA 22:9-10, Yet Thou art He who didst bring me forth from the womb; Thou didst make me trust {when} upon my mother's breasts. Upon Thee I was cast from [conception? No! But from what" birth; Thou hast been my God [in my mother's womb? No! from my mother's womb.

By the way, if there are two souls in one body, meaning two soul lives, then why wouldn't the fetus or the so-called soul have God as his or her God in the womb, not from the womb?

And let me make this crystal clear, this is in no way condoning abortion because there is movement, and there is biological life in the womb, which is the extension of the mother's life.

In PSA 22:11, Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help.

"Be not far from Me" means that His great sorrow was that God had forsaken Him, His great prayer is that He would be near Him.

In PSA 22:12, Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong {bulls} of Bashan have encircled me.

This was fulfilled in MAT 27:1, Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death;

PSA 22:13, They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion.

This was fulfilled in MAT 26:59-60, Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, in order that they might put Him to death; and they did not find {any,} even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward,

Like hungry cannibals they opened their blasphemous mouths as if they were about to devour the one they hated. They could not vomit forth their anger and jealousy fast enough.

In PSA 22:14, turning from His enemies, our Lord describes His own personal condition, I am poured out like water,

This took place in LUK 22:44, And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

PSA 22:14, I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint;

His bones were out of joint but not broken, JOH 19:36, For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "Not a bone of Him shall be broken."

PSA 22:14, My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.

MAR 14:33-34, And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death;"

PSA 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws

JOH 19:28 tells us why He cried out "I am thirsty"; And Thou dost lay me in the dust of death.

By the way, this is a description of the burning afflictions I described to you under the physical sufferings of Christ.

All His strength was dried up in the tremendous flames of divine justice just as the Passover lamb was roasted in the fire.

PSA 22:16, For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me;

LUK 23:10-11, And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing Him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

Then the Psalmist goes on to say They pierced my hands and my feet.

This was a fulfillment of ZEC 12:10 and another reason why this Psalm does not ultimately refer to David like some teach.

PSA 22:17 I can count all my bones.

This was a fulfillment of ISA 52:14, Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.

And then the Psalmist says They look or they stare at me;

Who are they?

They are those found in MAT 27:36, And when they had crucified Him, they sat down and they began to keep watch over Him there.

PSA 22:18, They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

MAT 27:35, And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots;

PSA 22:19-20, But Thou, O Lord, be not far off; O Thou my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, My only {life} from the power of the dog.

The sword is found in ZEC 13:7, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate," Declares the Lord of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered;

And the power of the dog represent the Romans who were Gentiles.

PSA 22:21, Save me from the lion's mouth; And from the horns of the wild oxen Thou dost answer me.

The Lion's mouth is a reference to Satan in 1PE 5:8, Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

And the wild oxen refers to the authorities of the land in ACT 4:27, "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,"

You can be sure that the devil as the "roar¬ing lion" closed in on TLJC unlike any other man with such a rage.

Never was the devil so determined to wreck a soul. Without a doubt he threw all that the kingdom of darkness had at their disposal at our Lord.

In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ said that this was the hour of the power of darkness, and that Satan would come but would find nothing in Him.

LUK 22:53, "While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are yours."

The truth of the matter is that here where Satan did his worst, Jesus Christ did His best. The Cross is where the adversary was stripped of his authority. For the lord bore in His body on the Cross the sins of all men, and therefore annulling the rights of the evil one to accuse and enslave them.

REV 12:10-11, And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come," for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death."

The twenty-second Psalm does not close without proclaim¬ing this fact:

PSA 22:31, They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed {it.}

It is declared that all the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord.

PSA 22:26-28, The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, And He rules over the nations.

In this way, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, links up His cross and the victory won on the Cross, with the glo¬rious future and life that He promises to all of those who believe in Him. Now I say all of this because it ought to stimulate our gratitude and appreciation for what TLJC has done for us. God has noth¬ing more wonderful to reveal to man than the Cross. Heaven knows of nothing so marvelous than the Cross.

The Cross will stand forever and ever as God's Masterpiece. The greatest of the apostles declared that he would not glory in anything except the cross of Christ.

GAL 6:14, But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

At the Cross, we have the meritorious attributes of God coming to their most majestic expres¬sion.

At the Cross, God found a way to do what, according to the Word of God, could never be done, that is to say God justifying the ungodly, and yet remaining just (ROM 3:26).

At the Cross, we have God declaring the wicked, righteous, without a shadow of blame or unrighteousness falling upon His righteous character¬. At the Cross, God frees the sinner who believes on His Son though he be the worst of sinners, and yet there is not a tint of a blemish upon His Holiness. At the cross God provides a forgiveness which has power to transform the wicked and make him a saint.

At the cross is only when the believer discovers the glory of the cross that he first comes to see the Bible in ts truest light.

It is then that he gets the divine focus and realizes what, all across the pages of the Scriptures, the Lord was forever aiming at, as His supreme goal. The point is that God has noth¬ing more wonderful to reveal to man than the Cross. Heaven knows of nothing so glorious than the Cross.

For example, witness the new song of millions of the redeemed sing around the throne as we have it in Revelation 5.

REV 5:9-13, And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth. And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever."

Think of it, the very universe is a poor insignificant thng when compared to the cross of Christ. The combined wisdom of the entire angelic creation can never conceive of anything that could begin to match its glory.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.

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God's Gift of Eteranal Life Blog

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About Me

Founder of Ticket2Heaven Bible Ministries - The purpose of this group is to accurately describe how one may
receive God's absolutely free gift of eternal life and to explore the
Word of God in such a way that it will be edifying as well as contribute
to the spiritual growth of believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can
receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.